Uc review

baileys2010

Hello. Apologies in advance for my rambling but I need some help or advice from anyone on universal credit who has had a review.

I'll start by saying I struggle with my mental health. I have agoraphobia that started when I was younger. I won't get into details as the post would be extremely long! I've been claiming for universal credit for a few years now and I got a message on my journal today which said my claim is being reviewed. I have to provide photo ID - I have none, I told them this and they said they will ask biographical questions instead. They also asked for bank statements from the past 4 months.

I'm panicking about this as I've never had a review before and don't know what to expect. I have severe anxiety, I find it difficult to speak to people. I'm a mess right now.

I'm also worried because my mum and a friend tend to put money into my account now and again as I don't have much money for myself by the time the bills are paid. I should mention I live with my family so I don't pay rent, although I do contribute in other ways towards food shop etc.

Will money from friends and family going in and out of my account get me into trouble? It isn't a lot, 10 or 20 pounds here and there. I was given 200 pounds at most as a one off (they aren't expecting it back) and I didn't think anything of it at the time. But could that cause problems?

I made the mistake of looking online to try and find out other people's experiences and I've read some things that are making me worse. I don't want to bother my family with this as I worry all the time about things. I can't help myself. I just hate not knowing what they're going to ask me, when the phone call is going to happen, how long I have to wait. I know they will have lots of cases to review and I don't want to pester them but I am sick with worry.

Albus_Scope

Heya @baileys2010 and welcome to the community.

I can totally empathise with the anxiety taking over with this, but it sounds a lot scarier than it actually is.  Reviews happen all the time and it's really nothing to be worried about. They're just making sure you're getting the right benefits and making sure you're not doing anything like funnelling money into off shore savings accounts. ; ) 
Bits of money here and there will be fine, they may ask you about them, but just be honest with them and as difficult as it is, try not to worry too much. I've had two reviews and they were totally fine, they just sound pretty intimidating.
 I'm sure you wouldn't be bothering your family either, they'd want to support you if you were not having a good time right?   

baileys2010

Hello, I appreciate the reply. I suppose I've just read so much conflicting information that I don't know what to think. I haven't had the best experience in the past with them so I always tend to expect the worst.

Kimi87

Hi, this is a Compliance Check to make sure the UC payments are correct. 
DWP are doing quite a few and lots of us on the forum have had one recently.

https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit-reviews

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/786412#Comment_786412

baileys2010

Thank you. I am trying not to worry myself too much but easier said than done.

poppy123456

Money given from friends relatives is treated as capital and not income. Capital of less than £6,000 is ignored anyway. 

Spike1776

@baileys2010 nothing to worry about I recently had a review and had to give bank statements with capital in them

result my UC increased £40 this month so,in this instance a review was a benefit to me.

baileys2010

I've seen people say they had to provide PayPal statements too (I don't have a PayPal account). I do have amazon and ebay accounts (just for buying things, not selling), but as far as I know you can't add funds to those accounts unless you're selling from them? Will they ask to see anything from those accounts?

poppy123456

Buyers and sellers accounts for eBay and amazon are completely different. A buyers account is simply you buying things from there with your money. They will not ask to see those. 

baileys2010

Thank you. I've been going through my statements trying to see if there's anything they might question. They're aware of my situation so a lot of the time, I either transfer money to my mum or give my mum my bank card to pick me up things from the shop.

Perhaps it's a stupid question but is this also allowed? Obviously it's someone I trust I have given my card to, and they will see the name of the shop on the transactions.

Sorry for all the questions, I just get so worked up over any sort of intrusion and the thought of having to explain myself to a stranger is terrifying.

poppy123456

You can spend your money on anything you want to so giving money to your mum won't be an issue. As I advised, capital of less than £6,000 is ignored anyway. 

baileys2010

Thanks again. I'm glad I asked here, I'm feeling a bit better about it now.

poppy123456

You're welcome. Glad I could help.

baileys2010

I'm finally getting a phone call next week.The message on my account says:

"This appointment is to review your Universal Credit claim, discuss the information you have already provided and for you to provide further evidence.

Make sure you have access to any documents you have already provided during the interview. This will help us to make sure you're getting the right payment."

Does this all sound normal? I'm unsure what this means by further evidence (all I submitted was bank statements). Is it just a standard message that everyone gets?

Kimi87

Yes absolutely standard. They will ask set questions to see if you have other sources of money/income, then any questions they have from reviewing your bank statements.

baileys2010

For anyone else worried sick about this as I was - I didn't have to go through any transactions in my bank statements, they just asked about a couple of names that came up (family). I also had to send a screenshot of my savings account to show there was nothing in it.

Rosie_Scope

Thanks for sharing what happened @baileys2010, I know members will find that reassuring 😊 are you all done with the review now?

baileys2010

I haven't heard back yet, I'm just assuming it's fine as the phone call only lasted five minutes and the person I spoke to was quite straightforward. Nothing like what I was expecting.

Rosie_Scope

@baileys2010 I'm glad it wasn't too bad in the end, fingers crossed it all goes through smoothly and you hear back soon!